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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Time's (more than) Up- How About that List?

Remember the list of things I wanted to do this year? Even with the extension I gave myself my success rate is pretty low. I'm reporting just to be honest, certainly not to make myself look good. Frowny face here.

I pretty much know what I need to be doing to reach at least some of my life goals, but I'm doing a really poor job of acting on it.

For illustration I offer two childhood pictures that pretty much define the problem.

Here I am digging a hole. Yes, to China. Inspired by a Donald Duck comic book where Huey, Duey and Louie were digging such a hole. Yes, I would dig whenever the mood struck me. In ten years I got it about 5 feet deep and six feet across. In my defense, I will state that this was in New York gray clay, not Michigan sand. (I was quite shocked when I moved to Michigan and discovered that mere mortals COULD actually dig holes.)

Here I am fishing in a creek with no fish. Why? Because I had new rubber boots and a fishing pole. The presence of obtainable osteichthyes was irrelevant to me. I thought that with boots and a pole they would appear and beg to be caught.

You will notice that I look pretty happy in both instances. I was and am a process person. I care more about gardening than having a beautiful garden. I like to knit, etc, but care less about finishing projects. And on and on.

Yes, I know I was a kid. No, I'm not just being down on myself. I know my faults as well as anyone. You can draw your own conclusions as to whether I have improved on these childish methods of choosing activities. I will also draw mine.

Anyway, here's the report.

54 in 300, report on day 427

Number

Category

Item

Final

1

WRITING

begin working on North Country Quest again

got briefly inspired, then got boggged down in reality again - still about 5 chapters done

2

WRITING

edit Kiss of the Butterfly, submit for publication

nothing

3

WRITING

100 NC History pages

just the planning in Nov

4

WRITING

blog about 8 wild foods

none

5

WRITING

finish Dead Mule Swamp Druggist

16 chapters added

9

WRITING

do 10 book promotion things

9 ish- I lost count

7

WRITING

writing schedule day 50 times (this refers to a particular disciplined schedule)

9

8

WRITING

5 entries in Off the Sanctuary Wall

none

9

WRITING

pursue a contract I can't name yet

didn't happen- but I tried

10

WRITING

talk to 5 bookstores about carrying mysteries

none

11

HOUSE

fix kitchen drawer

DONE

12

HOUSE

cut down 5 autumn olive trees

DONE

13

HOUSE

clean refrigerator twice

DONE

14

HOUSE

replace kitchen faucet

nothing

15

HOUSE

get lawnmower fixed

DONE- you heard about most of this. I get extra points

16

HOUSE

clean terrace

DONE

17

HOUSE

kitchen light electric box

DONE

18

HOUSE

replace faucet by washing machine

nothing

19

HOUSE

put away model railroad stuff

none

20

HOUSE

spend 10 hours sorting books

3 total- only managed to make a bigger mess

21

FITNESS

increase to 30 pushups

gave up

22

FITNESS

increase to 100 jumping jacks

gave up

23

FITNESS

increase to 2 min planking

gave up

24

FITNESS

walk, bike, ski or snowshoe 200 times

no clue- over 100

25

HIKING

NCT Hike 100 Challenge for 2016

DONE

26

HIKING

visit 5 new MI counties to explore trails

none

27

HIKING

hike 100 more miles of the Buckeye Trail

DONE, 230+ actually

28

HIKING

clear my trail better

DONE

29

PERSONAL

Savings Goal

DONE

30

PERSONAL

Financial Goal #2

nothing

31

PERSONAL

lose 10 pounds

lost 8!

32

PERSONAL

play music 50 times

20 ish

33

PERSONAL

other #1 (200 times)

40 ish

34

PERSONAL

other #2 (12 times)

2

35

MISC

make 21 quarts juice

14 total

36

MISC

try 10 new wild foods

none

37

MISC

some genealogy stuff

very little- found John's obit, tried to locate Ricky

38

MISC

100 more pix on Shark Shots

lost track, maybe 20

39

MISC

2 photo cards documented

got most hike pictures listed

40

MISC

give 10 gifts from my kitchen

5 ish

41

MISC

eat at Brenda's Burgers

DONE

42

MISC

eat at Country Critters

closed, but now open under new management

43

MISC

take my trailer on 2 trips

one

44

MISC

finish monkey booties

DONE

45

MISC

get two programs NCT and Kitchen Sink

none

46

MISC

get rid of 100 things

??? 20 ish

47

MISC

read or listen to 100 books

lost track, but way over 100. Most not very meaningful

48

MISC

move NCC from Josh's garage

nothing

49

MISC

short bios of 5 relatives

none

50

MISC

sort my fabric

nothing

51

MISC

do something inside my trailer

removed some things I don't want. Finished curtains. Have design plans for rebuilding. Visited Scamp and learned a lot

52

MISC

add 50 things to family heritage list

15 ish

53

MISC

some VCR tapes to DVD

none

54

MISC

some cassette tapes to CD

none

There you have it. I probably would have done as much without the list...